Only read this if you are quite young?

This thread is in the same vein as the "only read this if your were born in the 40's 50's or 60's" thread.

An Old Lady's Poem, Anonymous

"When an old lady died in the geriatric ward of a small hospital near Dundee, Scotland, it was felt that she had nothing left of any value. Later, when the nurses were going through her meager possessions, they found this poem. Its quality and content so impressed the staff that copies were made and distributed to every nurse in the hospital. One nurse took her copy to Ireland. The old lady's sole bequest to posterity has since appeared in the Christmas edition of the News Magazine of the North Ireland Association for Mental Health.

... And now this little old Scottish lady, with nothing left to give to the world, is now the author of this simple, yet eloquent, poem traveling the world by Internet. Goes to show that we all leave "SOME footprints in time"....."

An Old Lady's Poem

What do you see, nurses, what do you see?
What are you thinking when you're looking at me?
A crabby old woman, not very wise,
Uncertain of habit, with faraway eyes?
Who dribbles her food and makes no reply
When you say in a loud voice, "I do wish you'd try!"
Who seems not to notice the things that you do,
And forever is losing a stocking or shoe.....
Who, resisting or not, lets you do as you will,
With bathing and feeding, the long day to fill....
Is that what you're thinking? Is that what you see?
Then open your eyes, nurse; you're not looking at me.

I'll tell you who I am as I sit here so still,
As I do at your bidding, as I eat at your will.
I'm a small child of ten ...with a father and mother,
Brothers and sisters, who love one another.
A young girl of sixteen, with wings on her feet,
Dreaming that soon now a lover she'll meet.
A bride soon at twenty -- my heart gives a leap,
Remembering the vows that I promised to keep.
At twenty-five now, I have young of my own,
Who need me to guide and a secure happy home.
A woman of thirty, my young now grown fast,
Bound to each other with ties that should last.
At forty, my young sons have grown and are gone,
But my man's beside me to see I don't mourn.
At fifty once more, babies play round my knee,
Again we know children, my loved one and me.
Dark days are upon me, my husband is dead;
I look at the future, I shudder with dread.
For my young are all rearing young of their own,
And I think of the years and the love that I've known.

I'm now an old woman ...and nature is cruel;
'Tis jest to make old age look like a fool.
The body, it crumbles, grace and vigor depart,
There is now a stone where I once had a heart.
But inside this old carcass a young girl still dwells,
And now and again my battered heart swells.
I remember the joys, I remember the pain,
And I'm loving and living life over again.
I think of the years ....all too few, gone too fast,
And accept the stark fact that nothing can last.

So open your eyes, nurses, open and see,
...Not a crabby old woman; look closer ...see ME!!

*********************

Remember this poem when you next meet an old person who you might brush aside without looking at the young soul within ...... We will one day be there, too!"
www.carepathways.com...

reply to post by dr treg


Wow that's the first I have read this poem. It truly is ispiring, and literate. It actually warms your heart reading it. But in the end you must face that death is inevitable. S&F

WOW

That was way deeper than I was expecting.

Brought a tear to my eye.
Gonna swipe this and post it on my facebook.....

Very Nice.

Elderly People are often times,looked to as burdens on society.

Its a shame.


S&F

reply to post by dr treg


Everytime one of my young Soldiers would laugh or joke at me for having a spout of back pains or one to many knee surgeries.

I would always look them in the eye and smile and say, "One day you'll be in my world. Enjoy it while you can, I did."

Science may extend life, but everyday we are getting older and hopefully wiser. But science cannot stop death.

We are born to die...it's the journey in between that tells our story and destiny.

Great poem, so touching and yet somewhat sad...ahh the inevitability of life

I often look at elderly people when they are walking on the street and wonder what they are thinking as they see the world around them change so much.

Today I saw a couple, both completely white haired and appeared as though they have shrunken in size... They were crossing a main road and I remember looking at both of them in what seemed like slow motion. He was holding her hand as they stood in the middle of the lanes between passing traffic. They looked so close but also, looked so...lost.

As we drove on, I looked at the town and buildings around me. I think of what it must have looked like there 50 years ago. I remember thinking "I'm glad I don't live here... How must they feel?"

I wish we would look after the elderly a lot better than we do... They deserve to live in a sort of paradise and peace. They have lived this whole massive life and made it through. They have given all of themselves to society and their family.

You work your whole life in this maze of a world and when you can't anymore, what do you get?

Definitely something to think about...

What a beautiful poem and so true. Never ever take the elderly for granted. One day you will be just like them.

I don't wanna get old

Originally posted by mnmcandiez
I don't wanna get old

Id kill myself before I need to be fed with a bib and bathed by indifferent nurses. At that point, no one really WANTS to live... they are just afraid of dying, perhaps because theyve forgotten that only the body can perish; the soul lives eternal.

When one gets to the "adult diaper" phase of ones life, I think the signal is clear: its time to move on.

This made me cry, it's very deep and not what I expected when I opened this thread. I'm going to save it and show it to my friends and family.

My older patients (without dementia) are the best. They have such wonderful stories to tell, and being a nurse reminds me that every single person has a history worth being remembered; even if it is only me to hear them.

Originally posted by CaticusMaximus

Originally posted by mnmcandiez
I don't wanna get old

When one gets to the "adult diaper" phase of ones life, I think the signal is clear: its time to move on.

Dont be so certain, there are many reasons why one would need to wear a diaper in their fifties or sixties. Just because you have a bladder or neurological illness does not mean you are ready to end your life...Come on now..

Wow.
Wasn't expecting that.
Kind of made me emotional. If you tell anyone that I'll kick your a$$.

Can`t stop crying.
Thanks for posting this.

I wonder if that's what both of my grandmothers suffering from different stages of dymensia/alsheihmers (boy I gutted those words) think of the rest of us at this point when they have a moment of clarity...

Always a thought.

A_L

great poem, but I will tell all of you, I am only 60 but I do not like getting old at all, hate everything about it and often want to be young again, who wouldn't, I mean that's when you're invincible or at least feel that way. I loved being young greatest time of my life and there ain't nothing golden about the golden years.

Preservation of death.. Not life is the goal of modern medicine sadly,
im just 32, but I work in the medical devices industry.. seeing pacemakers, stents, implantable auto cardiac defiburlators go into patients of 90+ its a sad thing..

a friend of mine has had the displeasure of seeing a former high ranking officer of his workplace in a hospital, being forced fed now being too old to function as a person, in a hospital.. a man expired well beyond his livable years being kept alive.. not to preserve quality of life.. but rather to preserve people from death?.. why is society so fixated on keeping people alive when their no longer "people" and I mean that in the personal sence not the sociality aspect.. when everything a person is and once was.. is gone.. why do we preserve people in such a way to take away their dignity and humanity.. its certainly not the benefit of the patient in the end

its down to money.. making money... and living in a society that seems to have forgotten our natural roots
in that death is a natural part of life.. would we want to treat a child as a baby so they dont grow up?
take medical measures to ensure they dont go into puberty and adulthood.. no.. but somehow we seem to want to revert the rights of people to that of babies to somehow keep them from the next natural progression in life.. death

working in the medical devices industry, one I might add was originally founded to treat heart defects and the like,
now has its large majority of sales in elderly 80+ patients..

my grandfather.. his father died at 81.. however my grandfather now 91.. 10 years older than his father when he died has 2 stents and a ICD/pacemaker, he can no longer walk.. he can no longer leave the house unassisted.. he has a full time carer.. and the next step in life is a nursing home

Im not saying people who are likewise very old should be put to death.. far from it.. they should be given a life..
and be aloud to die when their body wants too.. not when theyve exhausted x fund or x options for making profit for a said company or medical industry being nothing more than living death.. preserved as long as possible for the benefit of others

the concept of growing old, being just 32 in this kind of world. truly scares me

reply to post by dr treg


Funny thing is when I look ... that is what I see.
So I kinda know what the old lady, old man, child, woman, boy girl... is trying to say.

Truly the best thread I saw yet on ATS. And I would like to die when the time comes rather than being nursed by other people.